Reader Redesign: Dining Nook Do-Over

Coming off of the heels of our own adventures in stencil land, we just had to share this note from Ginny who stenciled her dining nook earlier this year. Methinks she had a clawed hand of her own going on after she finished (just like my lady wife). Here’s what Ginny had to say about her dining area makeover:

I wanted to create a dining corner in my living room. Well, although I bought my table, finally got the chairs I wanted, and tried to dress it up, it still didn’t feel like a dining room to me. It was just this table in the corner of the room. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was missing COLOR. I wanted the color to match my living room so I brought in some green to match the carpet.

Then I saw that inspired me. So I went to to see what she did in full detail and she actually got the idea from . This is why I love bloggers – ideas go from page to page to page! So I cut out the template, traced it on the wall… which took 4.5 hours. Yes, my hands were hurting the next day. But then I also had to paint the lines, which took even longer :(

Now I’m absolutely positively head over heels in love with my dining room! -Ginny

Thanks so much for sharing Ginny! We really love how the bold color and pattern made a statement out of an otherwise ordinary corner. You can read more details about her project . Anyone else out there inspired to use a similar stencil or color palette in their dining space (or beyond)? And hopefully Ginny’s hand recovered eventually! Sherry’s are finally back to normal. But I’m not about to ask for a back rub just yet. Don’t wanna push my luck…

Got your own awesome before & after project? Send your story, pics, and related links to [email protected] to be considered for a possible Reader Redesign feature. You know we love any and all design eye candy!

Any ideas for a knock-out wall treatment for super textured walls? I live in a 60 year old house with plaster walls, they fit the Mediterranean architecture so the texture needs to stay but I need some solution besides just paint. I am thinking that stencilling won’t work because I won’t be able to get crisp lines. true? any ideas?

Hmm, I think if the texture is too much it might be hard, but I’ve heard of people skim coating their walls to smooth them out (it’s probably something you can find videos or tutorials online for). Hope it helps!

I think I saw that pattern online somewhere too and thought about stenciling my bathroom. Alas, we’re still renting and a clawed hand just wouldn’t be worth it to only look at it for a little while. Someday! Glad to see it on another wall though, I love what she did with it…and I LOVE the green!

LOVING THIS! We painted our “bar wall” (the look through wall from the kitchen to the living room) in our apartment black a few months ago, and it looks great but it needs a little something extra. This would be perfect! Can’t wait! Thanks for sharing!! <3

I’m such a perfectionist that I would find it very difficult and frustrating painting all of those lines. Do you have any tips you can share on how you did that (assuming you’re reading the comments)? You made a stencil, but did you paint with a dabbing technique like Sherry did, or paint everything by hand? Thanks!

Everything looks fab! Hmmm. now you all have me thinking about stenciling a wall in my half bath. What’s the word on a small space? Large scale stencil or small? I worry that a small might make it look too busy?

Thank you! It will likely be a winter project, I’ll send a pic if it turns out OK. Of course, this is after i “fun up” my linen closets with new paint and fancy shelf paper from chicshelfpaper.com Thanks for the link to them, they have AWESOME products.

awww yay! the green reminds me of my blog! I’m pretty obsessed with that color and the stencil that goes with it! That is seriously the perfect place for something bold too. Corners were made for WOW factors!

It looks wonderful! I used the same tutorial and put this stencil on one side of our stairway to add more interest, and one of my favorite things is that everyone has their own take on the colors and pattern. It’s time consuming but turns out so great.

Woo to the hoo for the return of Reader Redesigns! I know you’ve been talking about that for a few weeks now, but I never got the chance to voice my own elation about it. So there it is. Ha. Thanks J & $herdog! :)

Now…I’m crazy about that stencil!
I can’t wait until the renting-an-apartment phase of my life is over so that I can actually attempt half of the things I see here and on Pinterest haha

Thanks so much for sharing the link to the Better After blog. I’m newish to blog following and the one you link to is full of so many amazing completed projects which link back to other great design blogs.

The closest “I’ve” come to something like that is I have tone on tone harlequins on two of my walls – one on the super high stairway and the other on the wall my headboard is against in my bedroom – but alas, “I” didn’t technically do it, I paid someone else to!

That looks fabulous! I used a similar stencil design that I got from Royal Designs on my bathroom ceiling earlier this year. In fact, the colors are very similar to your office. The bathroom walls are gray and I repainted the white ceiling “grellow”, as you call it. Then I stenciled over the grellow ceiling with white. I love it. It’s like always having a sunny sky overhead.

Might have to steal the idea for our bedroom nook. Well, first we need to knock out the existing, barely-a-closet closet to create the nook. We’re taking an adjoining mini-room and splitting it in half. One half will open to our master and create a new walk-in closet that is more suited to my needs. The other half will open to a hallway as a dual purpose office and linen closet/storage.

Anyways, this is just the pop that the nook will need without overpowering the whole room.